mjones73:Instead of going to a jury trial and being in the hands of 12 peers (that I'm assuming could have awarded them even more), the defendant offered a settlement that the plaintiff agreed on and the case was dropped.

The use of "awarded" threw me off, "settlement reached" is more like it. Thanks for taking the time.

Rik01:I've never liked the metal bats, feeling that they cheapen the game.

I've listened to both sides (wood and metal) defend their bats and heard about how well the metal bat does and why it does it, but when all the BS stops, the game was created around a wooden bat and wood has greater benefits than metal.

Besides, I prefer to hear the KRAK of a solid wooden bat connecting with the ball than that stupid ping!

I don't think you'd find the Brits trading in their wooden bats for their traditional game of Cricket to use aluminum ones. That'd start a riot.

Not a riot old chap, just a disapproving glance. Then if the bounder still kept on with the silly idea we will send him off to a psychologist as using something other than willow shows a clear mental imbalance.

The Muthaship:Foxxinnia: I'm surprised they didn't also sue the helmet manufacturers who failed to produced a helmet that would adequately protect his tender cranium without him having to wear it.

He got hit in the chest

Not the bat's problem. If it was the bats, we'd have seen cases like this before and since.

This kid had the incredible misfortune to be hit with the legendary dim mak due to some truly unfortunate timing. Lamentable, but it's almost sickening that the family was able to bring a lawsuit against the bat manufacturer of all people. The coach, the family of the kid who hit the pitch, the first person to try and save him, almost anyone else makes more sense.

They might as well have sued Monsanto who probably had a hand in the chemicals on the turf which contributed to the solidity of the terrain which allowed their boy to be standing at the right elevation to be injured.

Foxxinnia:Federal, international maritime, Islamic, b-ball, I got what you need.

In that case, you may like my highly relevant anecdote:

When I was in law school, we had a softball tournament. My team had some big hitters on it (I was not one of them), and this was the one year that a titanium softball bat was approved for use. Of course, the jugheads on my team had one. The team we were playing complained, but we used it anyway. One of our players hit a line drive to the 3rd basemen. It hit him in his non-glove hand, and broke a bone in it.

Their team walked off the field saying the bat was dangerous. As they walked by, one of the guys on our team said to their 3rd baseman, "You should sue for loss of consortium."

Odd Bird:Babwa Wawa:They make a product that endangers the users. Why shouldn't they be liable? You might as well give a four year old a bag of glass to play with and advise them to "be careful with that."

I was going to respond with similes and counter points, but decided your post was either a troll or 10lb bag of derp.

What's trolly about saying that you should use wooden bats? And that those people who know the risks associated with aluminum bats and still provide them should be held liable?

Rik01:I've never liked the metal bats, feeling that they cheapen the game.

I've listened to both sides (wood and metal) defend their bats and heard about how well the metal bat does and why it does it, but when all the BS stops, the game was created around a wooden bat and wood has greater benefits than metal.

Besides, I prefer to hear the KRAK of a solid wooden bat connecting with the ball than that stupid ping!

I don't think you'd find the Brits trading in their wooden bats for their traditional game of Cricket to use aluminum ones. That'd start a riot.

Of course, now you get to consider the ecological problem. The best bats are made from Oak. Oak trees are slow growing and much in demand for wood. Is it right to strip a forest for a game?

Then again, they do it for toothpicks.

Plus there is the feel of a good, wooden bat in one's hands that absolutely can't be copied by metal.

Yup we tried aluminium cricket bats back in the 1970s and they were promptly banned. Nothing beats the sound and feeling of willow on leather.

CatfoodSpork:If we lived in a country with socialized health care, this type of lawsuit would not happen. The parents would not be left with a lawsuit as their only option to fund the lifetime of care that this kid needs.

It's amazing to me that the same people that want to limit lawsuit award size ("tort reform") are some of the same people that are against healthcare reform.

UHC will make people stop being greedy latigious shiatstains? Wow! What can't it do?

If this is the same guy I'm thinking of: The family's lawsuit originally demanded that the company (I believe Louisville Slugger) no longer manufacture metal bats. However when they waved the money under the noses of the family, suddenly they decided they didn't give a shiat about metal bats anymore. How is the bat at fault? Why not sure the maker of the glove for being too heavy for the son to catch the ball in time? Would this lawsuit still have been filed if it was a wooden bat? (I'm guessing yes). This family started off as out to protect the children, but ended up giving that up in place of a big payday. fark them and their piece of shiat lawyer.

Given a lifetime of care needed, the settlement seems about the right size given the insanely expensive health system in the US. You can see that the parents pretty much would have no choice but to try and find someone to sue, and probably the company thought it was cheaper/better to settle than to have the case rattle on for years, and probably decades of journalists revisiting the family and their financial and personal struggles if they won the case, and keep associating their company with this unfortunate incident over and over.

Babwa Wawa:srhp29: Babwa Wawa: lunchinlewis: Babwa Wawa: Baseball should be played with wooden bats - at all levels.

I'm no doctor, but from what I've read about this type of injury to the heart/chest, it seems likely that it could happen with a wooden bat too.

Possibly true, but a kid would have a better chance of avoiding the ball if it weren't traveling as fast. The kid wasn't exactly picking dandelions when he got hit.

He would have the best chance of avoiding a baseball if he were not on the field at all.

By they way, the idea is to catch the ball in baseball, not avoid it.

And I suppose you believe that kids should either play with aluminum bats, or nothing at all, right.

And when I'm teaching my son to drive, he should learn on the bugatti, or not learn at all.

Nice strawman.

My point was, had he had more time at a ball hit at his chest, he probably would have tried to catch it, not avoid it. A ball at ones head is easier to get out of the way of than a ball at ones chest, if "trying to avoid". You can't jump a ball at your chest and there is a lot more room you have to "duck" to get out of the way too.

All I am saying is there is no proof that had the batter been using a wooden bat and hit the ball at a slightly slower speed, that this would not have happened. The problem was where and when it hit, not necessarily how hard it hit. If it hit him in the middle of the chest, how much slower would it have to be going to avoid it all together? I'm thinking failry significantly...More than the difference between a medal and wooden bat.

Babwa Wawa:srhp29: Babwa Wawa: lunchinlewis: Babwa Wawa: Baseball should be played with wooden bats - at all levels.

I'm no doctor, but from what I've read about this type of injury to the heart/chest, it seems likely that it could happen with a wooden bat too.

Possibly true, but a kid would have a better chance of avoiding the ball if it weren't traveling as fast. The kid wasn't exactly picking dandelions when he got hit.

He would have the best chance of avoiding a baseball if he were not on the field at all.

By they way, the idea is to catch the ball in baseball, not avoid it.

You f*cking idiot. How many MLB pitchers don't defend themselves against line drives?

Defend themselves, or avoid? You could define catching a ball as "defending" yourself against it.

I wonder if this kids follow through put him in an optimum fielding position. Maybe poor coaching is as much to blame, but let's be honest...Coaches don't have 14.5M laying around in most cases so what is the point in going after them.

The Muthaship:Babwa Wawa: How many MLB pitchers don't defend themselves against line drives?

There's one in the hospital right now that may or may not live. When will MLB outlaw wooden bats?

You mean Brandon McCarthy? Because according to his tweet (that someone posted an image of earlier in the thread) he's been discharged already. I think we can say he's out of the woods on this particular injury, at least in terms of the threat to his life.

srhp29:All I am saying is there is no proof that had the batter been using a wooden bat and hit the ball at a slightly slower speed, that this would not have happened. The problem was where and when it hit, not necessarily how hard it hit. If it hit him in the middle of the chest, how much slower would it have to be going to avoid it all together? I'm thinking failry significantly...More than the difference between a medal and wooden bat.

And my point is that aluminum bats are both unnecessary and a hazard. I played with both as a kid - hitting a dinger with a wood bat is hella more satisfying, I can tell you.

The hazard is well known enough that regulations have changed in college. Why would they allow the things in youth ball?

Something similar happened to a kid at my school during a little league game. He was playing 3rd base and took a line drive to the head. It put him in a coma for a while and he has been farked up ever since. Parents didn't sue, it may not have occurred to them. I'm sure the statute of limitations has well expired as this happened over 20 years ago.

City Councilman James Oddo: I hope that karma comes around and catches everyone in metal bat cartel who traded in lies and deceit all in search of the mighty dollar, while all too willing to put kids at an elevated risk.

Really, James? I didn't know baseball bat manufacturers were on the same level as cigarette companies but I guess they are.

I still have the mag bat that my father got me in the mid-70s. Never in all the years I played youth baseball did I see an serious accident involving a line drive. I did see one of my friends break his leg sliding into 3rd base with brand new steel cleats. Perhaps his family should have sued the cleat manufacturer. It was obviously an evil company looking for profits at any cost.

lunchinlewis:Rather than change the bats or blame the bats, they should look into making the pitchers, maybe all the infielders, wear a chest protector under their uniforms. It doesn't have to be anything big or bulky

Except that chest protectors wouldn't have prevented this unless you went with the hard shelled professional level umpire chest protectors. Those are too unwieldy for players to wear.

lunchinlewis:PsyLord: While this is a tragic accident that happened to the kid, it's part of the game. You are the pitcher. You are in direct line with the path of a baseball if hit. Was it illegal to use a metal bat at that time (the article didn't say)? If so, then it's the league's fault, not the bat manufacturer's fault - I'm surprised that the gun manufacturers aren't balking at this ruling.

Thing is, it has nothing to do with the bat (or very little). It's a condition that has happened in other sports (lacrosse for example), where a couple kids have died after getting hit in the chest at just the right spot at just the right time.

Rather than change the bats or blame the bats, they should look into making the pitchers, maybe all the infielders, wear a chest protector under their uniforms. It doesn't have to be anything big or bulky.

Is there no insurance policy in the world that would have taken care of the boy/man/senior citizen's expenses for life, WITHOUT having to get lawyers and companies involved?This family might not have had such a policy, but surely this would qualify as a freakish type event that some kind of family/health insurance was specially "invented" to cover.

Huck And Molly Ziegler:Is there no insurance policy in the world that would have taken care of the boy/man/senior citizen's expenses for life, WITHOUT having to get lawyers and companies involved?This family might not have had such a policy, but surely this would qualify as a freakish type event that some kind of family/health insurance was specially "invented" to cover.

/not a lawyer//not a doctor///not an insurance person

It's the miracle of "Products Liability" and when $14.5MM is on the line nobody's insurer wants any piece of paying it.

The articles on this were severely lacking in details, but I wonder if the parents went after LS because they misrepresented the performance of the bat. For the last 15-20 years or so, most leagues that use metal bats require that they be under a certain Bat Performance Rating (BPF for short). One of the problems is that for a long time, the manufacturer did the testing. It wasn't until fairly recently that independent labs did any testing. More than a few bats were found to have a higher bpf than what the manufacturer was reporting.

For those of us that played ball in the 80s and early 90s and used metal bats, modern bats are way the hell better than what we used. I have a bat that is probably 20-25 years old that is deader than wood. A newer metal bat would never have that problem.

vudukungfu:If anyone was liable to keep him breathing for 15 - 20 minutes, it would be Mr CPR trained coach.

If you're doing CPR for 15-20 minutes you're lucky to end up with a vegetable. Without a defib unit or cardiac drugs the patient is done after that lone. CPR alone is just to stretch out the chance you have. Without the victim falling through a frozen river/lake/creek/pond/etc, 15-20 minutes is way too long.

CraicBaby:Rik01: Of course, now you get to consider the ecological problem. The best bats are made from Oak. Oak trees are slow growing and much in demand for wood. Is it right to strip a forest for a game?